Concannon Rallies Against De Blasio, Grodenchik

As Martin Van Buren High School prepared to welcome Mayor Bill de Blasio for a town hall on Nov. 2, his critics were outside, offering a welcome of their own.

City Council Candidate Joe Concannon rallies with supporters outside a town hall with Mayor Bill de Blasio at Martin Van Buren High School. Photo by James Farrell

Republican City Council Candidate Joseph Concannon organized roused dozens of supporters to action against de Blasio and his co-host for the town hall, Concannon’s opponent, Councilman Barry Grodenchik (D-Oakland Gardens).

Protestors chanted “Barry’s Gotta Go,” “Make New York Great Agai

n,” “Fake News” and “Hey, Ho, de Blasio’s gotta go.”

Concannon railed against Grodenchik, saying that the councilman’s constituent services “has fallen off a cliff.” He argued that Grodenchik had not been responsive to a number of issues in the community, including a situation last year where residents of Glen Oaks Village had no gas for a month.

“We investigated, we held a press conference—four hours later, the gas was back on,” Concannon said.

He said that Grodenchik was not doing enough to address resident concerns about public safety regarding patients at the local Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, who some residents say have been causing problems. Concannon added that a recently installed bike lane near the Windsor Oaks co-op in Bayside was causing issues and that Grodenchik “teamed up with his best buddy [de Blasio] to get it installed.”

Grodenchik called Concannon’s assertions about his constituent services “laughable.”

“Our constituent services are excellent, and I am constantly being stopped on the streets by individuals who live in the district and who are grateful for the work that we are doing,” Grodenchik said.

Inside the town hall, Grodenchik said that he had recently met with civic leaders surrounding Creedmoor and expected to hold another meeting with the psychiatric center’s executive director soon.

“The problem has cropped up over the last few months, and if it cropped up over a few months, I believe that we can take care of it quickly,” he said.